Prevention is our core work - NADMO

Accra, Aug. 4, GNA – The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) on Tuesday said it had shifted its focus from disaster management to disaster risk reduction in order to minimise man-made disasters.

Some of these man-made disasters can be prevented to save lives and property, Major Nicholas Mensah (Rtd), Public Relations Officer of NADMO, said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra.

He was reacting to media reports that blamed NADMO for focusing on management of disaster instead of prevention mechanisms.

Major Mensah said NADMO had made a lot of efforts to promote risk reduction, which included the establishment of the Journalists Club for Disaster Prevention and the holding of workshops and seminars to educate the public on the subject.

He appealed to the citizenry to focus on the preventive aspect of disasters to avoid the loss to lives and property.

Major Mensah said the country could attain disaster-free status if Ghanaians would be ready to change the habit of building on waterways and other unauthorised places and also avoided throwing garbage into drains, which blocked the free flow of water.

He said Ghana, as a member of the United Nations and African Union, had adopted the Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy as a way of preventing and mitigating the effects of all human-induced and natural risks including climate change.

Major Mensah said NADMO prevented disasters in the form of education, which included the cautioning of parents not to allow their children to play with naked fires.

He reiterated that the preventive measures being implemented included providing resources to the Technical Advisory Committees of NADMO, to make it more vibrant and effective as well as ensuring that the national, regional, metropolitan, municipal and district platforms for disaster risk reduction ran effective programmes in their respective communities.

GNA